Under new leadership, the LAPD has dramatically improved community relations--fostering a partnership of community policing that has helped the LAPD reduce the City's crime rate to historic lows

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa today joined Chief William Bratton, City Council President Eric Garcetti, Councilmembers Tom LaBonge and Bill Rosendahl, City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, City Controller Wendy Greuel, Police Commission Vice-President John Mack and community and religious leaders to discuss U.S. District Court Judge Gary A. Feess' termination of the federal consent decree forced on the Los Angeles Police Department in 2001.

"It is truly a new day at the Los Angeles Police Department. The shackles of a necessary but burdensome federal consent decree have been broken, but the benefits of reform have already been realized," Mayor Villaraigosa said. " For the first time in my lifetime, residents of our most crime-plagued neighborhoods view our brave men and women in blue as partners, not adversaries. That partnership has enabled the most efficient police force in the nation to reduce crime rates to levels not seen since the 1950s. And as crime has plummeted, it has sparked a renaissance of hope in our most historically troubled neighborhoods."

Judge Feess' court ruling terminates the consent decree and approves a joint request by the Department of Justice and the City to enter into a Transition Agreement that transfers oversight from the Independent Monitor to the Inspector General of the Los Angeles Police Commission. As part of the agreement, the court will retain jurisdiction over four elements of oversight: Teams II, biased policing, financial disclosure and management of gang units.

The review of all subject areas included in the agreement, conducted by the Inspector General, will be provided to the Department of Justice for further review and feedback.

"I want to congratulate the men and women of the LAPD who have worked so hard over the past 8-years to implement the Consent Decree," said Chief Bratton. "The efforts of all of them, sworn and civilian have resulted in Department reforms that are recognized and implemented as best practices in policing worldwide. But it is not just law enforcement that is benefitting, as the Department has improved, so too have our community police relations."Â Â Â

Over the last eight years, the LAPD has undertaken one of the most aggressive, efficient and progressive reform efforts in the nation. Under new leadership, the department has dramatically improved community relations--fostering a partnership of community policing that has helped the LAPD reduce the City's crime rate to historic lows.Â

Following the discovery and disclosure of the Rampart Area Corruption Incident by the LAPD, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) notified the City of its intent to file a civil suit alleging the Police Department was engaging in a pattern or practice of excessive force, false arrests and unreasonable searches and seizures. As a result of a settlement with the DOJ, the City of Los Angeles and the LAPD entered into a Consent Decree with specific guidelines designed to institute new policies and procedures aimed at reforming the conduct of the department.